upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Have you seen this cookware before? It's brand new and I would like your thoughts on it. Once you are on the website, at the top click on "What is copper fusion?" for more information.

http://www.chantal.com/cflocations.asp

I have not seent his stuff before. It seems to be sort of like the All-Clad copper core in a sense, except it seems to be coated with enamel. I wonder about the composition of the enamel. Is it an inorganic oxide coating? That would be best because it would mean there will not be nasty vapours of organic compounds produced if overheated. I would wonder also if the material is durable--enamel coatings could certainly chip easily. That would be VERY bad.

The All-Clad copper core materials are amazingly expensive. They are stainless steel on the outside, and are ideal for some things. They really look good too. They are certainly safe for birds, as there is nothing but metal! Things do not seem to stick to them very badly either.

The aluminium core things are almost as good and less expensive, and there are several other manufacturers. The Kitchen Aid line is somewhat less expensive and excellent too. Conductive core pans are good because there are not hot spots which prevents burning food. There are also other lines of this type of pan. In my kitchen I use this type of pan because it is obviously safe for birds, and it works so well. For frying, however, I use cast iron even though I have some clad frying pans.

One further thing, if one feed rice to birds it is best to use a double boiler, because it is best to use brown rice, and it has a VERY long cooking time. I bring the rice-water mixture to a boil before placing it on the double boiler.

The company sent me this info on the cookware:

The enamel is a silicate system, which is not water soluble. It is totally free of any toxicology. The enamel has the following chemical characteristic:

SiO2
B2O3
Alcalioxid
MNO2
F2

I looked these up and found
SiO2--Silicon Dioxide
B2O3--Boric Oxide
Alcalioxid--not sure on this. Maybe it's supposed to be alkaloid?
MNO2--Manganese Dioxide
F2--couldnt find this specifically

Can you give me your thoughts?

interesting topic !
Alcalioxid: possibly an aluminum-calcium oxide. an aluminum compound might create a smoothness or gloss on the enamel. You can see the sheen on the surface of clays that contain bauxite, and aluminum does not corrode because a slight oxide on its surface protects the rest of the metal, under normal conditions. In the presence of extremely high temperatures and oxygen, it burns !
F2: possibly a Ferric or ferous (iron) oxide, which might be needed for bonding, or a flouride, which would stabilize the resultant compound or mixture.

bumping this up for R Pavlis to see.

Dr Pavlis hasn't posted since year-end. I'm afraid he might have moved to another chat. Surely our loss, if so

Paca